Overview
- The BBC One episode aired Wednesday showed experts restoring the shoes and left Felix saying she felt “winded” and “breathless” when she saw them.
- She brought the tan-dyed pointe shoes she wore for her first professional solo at the Royal Opera House about 40 years ago.
- Felix told the programme she was turned away by a London company in the 1970s because of her race and then joined the all-Black Dance Theatre of Harlem in New York.
- She said the repaired shoes now sit on display at home, fulfilling her late mother’s wish to see them preserved.
- Reports linked the restoration to her 2024 MBE for services to dance education and to a career that opened doors for Black dancers.